The Mech Touch

The ammunition supplied by HQ in Dershin didn't amount to much. The proportion of high-grade ammunition was even more paltry, which meant that Venerable Irene Mox had to cherish every single projectile that could effectively damage stronger targets.

The Iron Hedgehog only had 10 high-grade explosive shells at its disposal. Each of them were particularly effective against expert light mechs, though the probability of hitting them was low.

The Blue Amazon was a fairly fast offensive expert mech. It clearly relied on superior speed to advance and retreat whenever it wished. It also possessed a flight system so it could hardly be caught in most circumstances.

It was extremely challenging for a machine like the Iron Hedgehog to land a successful attack at this extreme range.

Every expert pilot possessed a sharp intuition towards danger. They already received a warning even before an opponent pulled the trigger!

Against this unreasonable ability to avoid serious threats, Venerable Irene Mox had to leverage all of her skill, experience and judgment to predict the enemy expert pilot's reaction and adjust her firing solution in accordance.

Of course, the Blue Amazon's expert pilot also understood that Irene would try to predict her evasive maneuvers. The Bontue pilot would do her best to break her pattern and move in an unexpected direction.

This could go on and on to the point where both pilots no longer thought consciously about their actions anymore. Relying on pure logic and calculation would only cause them to be read by their opponents, especially when they were on the same level!

After Irene had tested out her current adversary by launching relatively ordinary explosive shells, she already understood that the Blue Amazon was a tricky machine.

It was not only fast, but was also controlled by a skilled and experienced expert pilot. She could sense that the pilot of the expert swordsman mech was much older than herself!

It was not wise for Irene to spend one of her precious high-grade shells on attacking the Blue Amazon at this extreme range.

It would become much easier for Irene to pressure the Bontue expert mech when it advanced far enough to come into visual range!

Irene decided not to adhere to common sense this time.

The joy she experienced after obtaining a massive upgrade to her combat power had given her an inexplicable confidence in this confrontation.

She believed that even if the odds were stacked against her, the amplification granted by Emma would enable her to accomplish the impossible!

Just because other expert pilots could not take out an enemy expert mech at such an extreme distance did not mean that she was beholden to the same restrictions!

Irene considered the Blue Amazon to be a test. If she wasn't able to take down the expert mech before it could come close enough to inflict a lot of damage to the Quillim defensive line, then she would not be worthy to obtain Emma's power!

Ves fell silent as he sensed Irene's growing resolve. It was only during times like these that she showed the willpower and mentality of a mech pilot that was repeatedly capable of surpassing her limits.

Though Ves now theorized that obtaining a companion spirit massively increased Irene's chances of completing the infamous Mech Body Merger Process, Irene would never have been able to make it this far if her mentality was not good enough!

Once Irene grasped the right timing, she instantly pulled the trigger!

One of the howitzers mounted on top of the Iron Hedgehog instantly fired with greater power!

The shell that exploded from its muzzle glowed brighter and exuded considerably greater danger than the ones the expert mech had previously fired!

It also gained considerably greater speed as well, allowing it to reach its target significantly faster as well!

The swift and rapid passage of the high-grade shell left a long and bright trail of light during its passage.

The sight impressed the Quillim mech pilots while simultaneously inducing greater fear among the Bontues on the other side of the field!

The veteran expert mech pilot at the receiving end already perceived the deadly threat. She did not hesitate to command the Blue Amazon to jump forward while simultaneously activating its flight system at full power!

Though the Blue Amazon's frame came under enormous strain by performing these demanding emergency maneuvers, the Bontue expert pilot could not care about that at the moment!

Even as the Blue Amazon leapt into the air, the blazingly bright comet quickly approached its position though at a slight different angle.

However, just before the shell struck the ground, it exploded at roughly the same altitude as the expert swordsman mech!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A blast radius that was roughly 1.5 times larger than the previous ones completely engulfed the area!

Not even the Blue Amazon was able to make it out in time! 

Not only that, but the intensity of the orange explosion was much stronger as well!

The high-grade shell was primarily designed to damage expert mechs, so the potency of its destructive power needed to be much greater in order to make them succeed.

Before the explosion faded, the distinctive blue shape of an expert swordsman mech dove out of the fiery globe.

Its resonance shield no longer looked as stable as before. Though it still possessed plenty of strength, its wobbling appearance showed that the Bontue expert pilot expended a considerable amount of effort into defending against the earlier attack!

"It's effective!" Blinky finally spoke out. "Did it take more effort to amplify this expensive warhead?"

Venerable Irene curtly nodded. "Emma and I can channel much more of our strength through it than before. I won't be able to keep this up as long as I keep launching these premium shells, but it will be worth it if I can take out the Blue Amazon in advance."

The next phase of the battle turned into a tense duel between two expert mechs that were too far away to observe each other directly.

The Iron Hedgehog apparently gave up on bombarding the enemy standard mechs in favor of wearing down the Blue Amazon's defenses.

Each time the Blue Amazon received substantial damage meant that its buffer became more and more feeble.

It didn't matter too much if Irene failed to destroy it entirely. So long as it reached New Kreon in a ragged condition, it would no longer be able to contribute as much to the battle anymore!

This was why the commander of the Quillim mech forces acquiesced to Venerable Irene's targeting priorities.

At the same time, the Blue Amazon could forget about wiping out the Quillim scout mechs. Forcefully pursuing the scouts would only cause the expert mech to become too predictable.

There was nowhere for the Blue Amazon to go in order to escape the Iron Hedgehog's lock. It had long entered the effective range of the expert heavy artillery mech. Even running back the other way would not save it from getting surrounded by explosions!

There was no effective cover in sight that could grant relief to the poor expert swordsman mech. The surrounding landscape was not entirely flat, but it was not filled with large and awe-inspiring mountains either.

No hill, forest, river or structure could hinder the Emma-empowered shells of the Iron Hedgehog from closing in on the Blue Amazon's position!

The expert swordsman mech initially took flight and tried to use its superior flight speed to increase its ability to escape the center of the empowered explosions.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

However, this did not work out for Bontue expert pilot. Her expert mech's linear speed may have increased by a considerable degree, but its ability to shift in direction and redirect its momentum was significantly worse!

To normal mech pilots, the turning speed of an offensive expert mech was blazingly fast, but to an expert pilot like Irene Mox, the Blue Amazon's aerial maneuvers were awfully sluggish!

Of course, that still didn't mean that the Iron Hedgehog was capable of shooting down the Blue Amazon from the air, but the combination between a high-grade shell and an explosive companion spirit completely changed the game!

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

After several successful strikes including one where the Blue Amazon had been caught close to the center of a powerful blast, its resonance shield had already lost over 50 percent of its capacity!

This was already an amazing result considering that the expert swordsman mech had never managed to take out any further Quillim mechs during this period of time.

"You're already doing a great job." Blinky said as he continually stared at Emma each time she reappeared out of nowhere. "The Blue Amazon should no longer be able to fight as vigorously as before."

"I'm not done yet." Irene gritted her teeth. "I won't stop until it is completely finished."

"You only have 4 high-grade shells left, Irene! That is not enough to whittle down the Blue Amazon's remaining defenses, especially now that it has descended onto the ground."

"I can do it, Blinky! I have taken the measure of my enemy!"

The Blue Amazon's traversal speed on land was not as fast as in the air, but its footing was much more solid, allowing it to jump aside and change direction with much greater ease.

It was a bit trickier to land an effective hit under these circumstances, but Irene did not intend to conserve her few remaining high-grade shells in the slightest!

"FIRE!"

A howitzer unleashed yet another bright orange comet!

The Blue Amazon on the other end had already begun to jump to the right in a desperate attempt to escape the blast radius once again.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Unfortunately, it only made it two-third from the center of the explosion before it briefly disappeared from view!

Once it showed up again, its resonance shield looked even more distressed.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Blue Amazon made a fairly unexpected maneuver that allowed it to escape the brunt of the next strike. Though its resonance shield rippled again, it only lost a marginal amount of integrity.

Yet before 10 seconds had passed, another blazingly bright orange comet had descended onto its position in advance!

It turned out that Irene had cut short the time she spent on aiming her howitzer and instantly fired one that was loaded with a high-grade shell as soon as Emma reappeared once again!

Even though the expert pilot received a timely warning from her highly attuned intuition, the break in timing had caught her off-guard and prevented her from moving her expert mech away quickly enough!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

This time, the Blue Amazon looked as if it had just escaped from hell!

Its resonance shield was close to collapsing at this point as it had suffered a much greater blow than before.

At this point, the enemy commanding officer already ordered the Blue Amazon to retreat, but it was far too late.

Miew!

As Emma reappeared yet again, she looked just as energetic and bloodthirsty as Irene!

The companion spirit quickly dove into the final remaining high-grade shell and began to resonate with it as best as possible.

Venerable Irene Mox took her time at this point. She still did not think about firing her other cannons at the same time in order to add further pressure onto her target.

She focused solely on aiming her most crucial howitzer.

Twenty seconds passed without incident.

Thirty seconds passed while the Blue Amazon utilized all of its speed to run back while following a zig-zag trajectory.

Forty seconds passed until Irene finally launched the attack that she would remember for the rest of her life.

"DESTROY!"

The final orange comet seemed to soar through the air a little faster than the previous ones!

The Blue Amazon tried its best to escape the blast radius of the tenth and final super-powered attack, yet just as it cleverly dug its sword onto the ground and used it as a pivot to jump towards the left, the final high-grade shell practically struck the expert mech head-on as if it had run straight into the deadly attack!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"What?!"

"It's a direct hit!"

By the time the furious blast faded from view, the Blue Amazon still remained standing, but only barely!

Its resonance shield had completely disappeared.

Not only that, but its left arm along with its head were torn apart. Its sword had been flung over 150 meters away while its entire surface looked scorched as if it had dug its way out of an oven!

Just when it looked as if the expert mech barely managed to stay online, it slowly started to tip over until it fell flat on its face.

"The Blue Amazon… has fallen."

"Its systems has lost power! Its reactor has been knocked offline!"

"Look! The Bontue mechs... have stopped their advance! They're turning around!"

"Wait... are they retreating?"

"The Bontues have aborted their offense! They no longer possess the will to fight!"